The Heritage of London Trust has acquired the artist’s south London family home
As well as growing up from an eight-year-old boy into a twenty-year-old man at 4 Plaistow Grove in Bromley, the years 1955 – 1967 also saw David Robert Jones transform into David Bowie. The south London terraced house was the place where Bowie’s musical journey started and it’s where he wrote one of his most iconic songs, ‘Space Oddity’.
Now the house has been acquired by the Heritage of London trust, and it will be restored to its original 1960s appearance and opened to the public as a living continuation of Bowie’s legacy of “free creative experimentation.” Geoffrey Marsh, who co-curated the David Bowie Is exhibition at the V&A, and a never-before-seen archive, will be assisting on the project to recreate the interior as it was when the young Bowie lived there.
His 9 ft x 10 ft bedroom will form the centre of the new visitor experience. “It was in this small house, particularly in his tiny bedroom, that Bowie evolved from an ordinary suburban schoolboy to the beginnings of an extraordinary international stardom,” said Marsh. “As he said ‘I spent so much time in my bedroom. It really was my entire world. I had books up there, my music up there, my record player. Going from my world upstairs out onto the street, I had to pass through this no-man’s-land of the living room.’”
Speaking about the acquisition, Dr Nicola Stacey, Director of Heritage of London Trust, said: “David Bowie was a proud Londoner. Even though his career took him all over the world, he always remembered where he came from and the community that supported him as he grew up. It’s wonderful to have this opportunity to tell his story and inspire a new generation of young people and it’s really important for the heritage of London to preserve this site.”
The house will also host creative and skills workshops for young people once open. The project has already received a £500,000 donation from the Jones Day Foundation and further fundraising will begin this month, with the house panning to welcome visitors at the end of 2027. Given how popular the David Bowie Centre at the V&A East has been since it opened in September, we expect this to be another hit with fans.
Key Information
Opening date | late 2027
Address | 4 Plaistow Grove, Bromley BR1 3PB
For more information | bowieshouse.org
